fancy paper collage

Sometimes the most useful items to one person are the rejects of another. The other day, I was at Kinko's to copy a project and I reached into the recycle bin to grab a scrap paper to write on. Out came these beautiful sheets of paper that were part of someones craft project - I am sure. The person had discarded lots of strips of gorgeously patterned card stock. To me, these scraps screamed opportunity for collage. The five next postcards are the product of my recycling efforts.

308/365, sent to Seattle

309/365, sent to Sammamish

310/365, sent to Seattle

311/365, hand-delivered in Seattle

312/365, sent to Lynnwood, WA

journey into the unknown

These funny creatures are once again inspired by Carla Sonheim's new book Imaginary Animals.  They are made out of the interior of old envelopes and the pages of an antique German kids book.  Varnish is painted over the collage and the animals are drawn in pencil.
This set of postcards was sent to friends I have long lost touch with.  I am not sure if the cards will make it to their destination - most likely they will not, since the addresses in my address book were outdated.  I sent these cards on to a journey into the unknown - hoping that somehow the cards will make it to their destination - or else that somebody on route might enjoy them.

303/365, sent to Bern, Switzerland

304/365, sent to Brooklyn, NY

305/365, sent to Hamburg, Germany

306/365, hand delivered in Seattle

307/365, sent to Seattle, WA

blog audience

Blogspot has this great feature where you can check the statistics of your blog. I enjoy looking to see how many times my blog has been clicked a day.  But more interesting than that is the feature which analyzes my audience.  I can find out where in the entire world mazecard is being visited.  While most clicks are made in the US and Germany, there are also lots of followers in other countries:  Russia, Canada, France, Switzerland to name a few and places as exotic as South Korea and Singapore.   I am wondering to myself how people get to this site and what they think of it.  Was it just a happenstance or do people follow the project on a regular basis?  An invitation once again, to all of you out there reading this blog, I'd love to send you a card if you leave me your name and address in the comment box.

298/365, sent to Kassel, Germany

299/365, sent to Owings Mills, MD

300/365, sent to New York, NY

301/365, sent to Seattle, WA

302/365, have not yet found adressee's address

origami creations

I had fun learning about Origami and making these small creatures out of decorative paper. It came in handy one day at school when a student didn't behave in art class and just needed an extra project to be engaged. I pulled out my elephant and had him create one as well. His little hands moved so fast and his bad attitude just evaporated. It was a moment of magic for me to see that busying yourself with your hands has truly healing powers. I find that is true for myself as well. When I make it a point to sit down in the morning to do art, I feel more grounded throughout the day. Give it a try!

293/365, hand-delivered in Seattle

294/365, sent to Seattle, WA

295/365, sent to Seattle, WA

296/365, sent to Philadelphia, PA

297/365, sent to Munich, Germany

unlikely friends: thread and watercolor

I love to sew and haven't had much time since the beginning of the year - my creativity spent on a daily postcard. Only this week have I had extra time on hand which I spent creating these gift items from recycled and felted wool:  Framed pictures of cute mice, sweet finger puppets and a pillow for the toothfairy.  I find the process of hand stitching utterly calming and satisfying.  These creatures were inspired by a gifted crafter up in Port Townsend, Kata Golda, who makes everything from wool and wrote beautiful DIY books about her craft.  If you want to look up Kata Golda, here is her website http://www.katagolda.com/

These postcards below have been created by thread, a sewing machine and water color. I first sewed the line across the paper - leaving an interesting pattern also on the back of the card. Then I embellished the emptiness of the white card with watercolor.  I love the multi-media feel of these cards.

288/365, sent to Burlington, VT

289/365, sent to Giessen, Germany

290/365, sent to Washington, DC

291/365, sent to New Rochelle, NY

292/365, sent to Berlin, Germany

spidey rescues the toothfairy

Can Spiderman step in as tooth fairy? Sure he can. Last week, when my youngest lost a tooth, I was busy and assigned my husband with the honorable task of designing a picture of the tooth fairy. That week, my son had just been reading his first book on his very own entitled Spiderman against Sandman. So here Spidey came to the rescue when the tooth fairy was held back by Sandman and had begged Spidey to deliver the goods and rescue the tooth. Well done - Spidey!

283/365, hand-delivered by the tooth fairy (guest artist Stuart L.)



284/365, sent to Bellevue



285/365, sent to Seattle
This image was inspired by my daughter's in depth study of the Holocaust.  Her class is part of an online experiment where kids take on the identity of a historic figure in order to discuss a current political dilemma. The organization who orchastrates it is centropa.org.  My postcard depicts Lilli Tauber, a holocaust survivor, whose identity Ana is studying and whose story can be viewed on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHHu-BI4l3w

286/365, sent to Seattle

287/365, sent to Seattle

table patterns

These cards are inspired by creativity teacher Carla Sonheim who finds sidewalk cracks a great starting point to drawing from imagination. In her new book, Drawing and Painting Imaginary Animals, which she introduced last night at a local bookstore, she explains many out of the box ways to approach artistic expression.

Instead of sidewalk cracks, I used the patterns on the table at which I sat during a 4-day seminar on how to become a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for children. Doodling was a helpful pastime while I learned about so many difficult and important subject matters pertaining children's safety in families. Once again I found it soothing to draw and not at all distracting to what I was listening to.

278/365, sent to Los Angeles, CA

279/365, hand-delivered in Seattle

280/365, sent to Seattle, WA

281/365, sent to Seattle, WA

282/365, sent to Seattle, WA